No, You Probably Can't Guess That Dog's Breed — and a New Study Explains Why It Matters

Your phone rings. When you answer, your friend says, "Hi! I just got a new dog!"

And naturally, you respond, "That's great! What kind is it?"

Every dog lover in the world has had this conversation, or at least one along the same lines. But if the dog in question is a mixed breed, chances are good that the answer to that question will be somewhat (if not totally) inaccurate. In many cases, it really doesn't matter; you were simply curious. But in other circumstances, the answer can be the difference between life and death for a dog.

A recent study by the Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida has shown that dog experts of all kinds have one thing in common when it comes to identifying predominant breeds in mixed-breed dogs: Their assessments are stunningly unreliable. This is confirmation of what many in shelter medicine already knew to be true, but the findings are far-reaching and affect everything from apartments and insurance companies that have breed-specific regulations to rescues trying to match pets to families. In addition, this inability to recognize what breed a dog is endangers dogs facing breed bans and can hinder properly identifying lost and found dogs in shelters.

To learn more about the study and its applications, we spoke to Dr. July Levy, DVM, a professor of shelter medicine at the University of Florida and leader of the dog breed identification study.